A trilateral meeting was held in Baku between Rovshan Rustamov, Chairman of “Azerbaijan Railways” CJSC (a company under AZCON Holding), Laša Abashidze, General Director of “Georgian Railways” JSC, and Talgat Aldybergenov, Chairman of the Management Board of “Kazakhstan Railways” National Company JSC, Azerbaijan Railways told APA-Economics.
During the meeting, the parties discussed the results of the seven-month activity of the joint venture “Middle Corridor Multimodal Ltd”, established to ensure effective cooperation among the railway administrations of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Georgia for the development of the Middle Corridor.
The sides emphasized the importance of expanding digitalization of services along the corridor and increasing the overall capacity of the Middle Corridor.
It was particularly noted that freight traffic between China and Azerbaijan via the Middle Corridor has shown significant growth recently. In 2024, 287 block trains were received from China; in the first seven months of this year alone, this figure has already reached 225 block trains—almost twice as much compared to the same period of last year. By the end of the year, the total number is expected to exceed 400. In total, 24,000 TEU of cargo was transported via block trains in the first seven months of this year—again, almost double compared to the same period in 2023.
The meeting also addressed the intention of China’s “China Railway Container Transport Corp. Ltd.” (CRCT) to join the “Middle Corridor Multimodal Ltd.” joint venture, and the significance of this move for the development of the Middle Corridor and East-West-East freight transportation.
As a result, CRCT’s accession to the joint venture was unanimously approved, and the corresponding protocol was signed.
It was noted that the cooperation of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Georgia within the framework of “Middle Corridor Multimodal Ltd.” aims to ensure uninterrupted, reliable, and efficient freight transportation operations along the Middle Corridor, while also improving customer convenience through a single-window system. The inclusion of the Chinese company in the joint venture will open up new opportunities for organizing container shipments from China to Europe.
